memeorandum: August Jobs Report: Unemployment Falls to 8.1 Percent (Susanna Kim/ABCNEWS)

9:10 PM ET, September 7, 2012

Top Items:

Eastwood says his convention appearance was ‘mission accomplished’ — AFTER A week as topic No. 1 in American politics, former Carmel Mayor Clint Eastwood said the outpouring of criticism from left-wing reporters and liberal politicians after his appearance at the Republican National Convention …

Tim Mak / Politico:
Clint Eastwood explains the ‘empty chair’

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Outside the Beltway and The Rightnewz

Frank Newport / Gallup.Com:

Obama Bounces Up to 52% Approval, 48% to 45% Over Romney — President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party look as if they are getting at least a preliminary bounce from their convention. Today's (Friday, Sept. 7) Gallup Daily tracking update puts Obama's job approval rating at 52% …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Hot Air, National Review, The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette, Outside the Beltway, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, The New Civil Rights Movement, Political Capital, Taylor Marsh and The Political Carnival

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Why Obama Went Low Key in His Democratic Convention Speech — The president's more subdued rhetoric is being derided by pundits—but it was carefully vetted with groups of voters. Howard Kurtz reports exclusively on the Obama team's decision not to swing for the fences in Charlotte.

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, Connecting.the.Dots and Reuters

Reuters:

Obama fell flat — Barack Obama was flat. — A surprisingly long parade of Democrats and media commentators who didn't think much of the speech described it less as a failure than a fizzle—an oddly missed opportunity to frame his presidency or the nation's choice in a fresh or inspirational light.

Discussion: Althouse and Hot Air

Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:
Obama: A Pedestrian and Overconfident Speech

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Politico and The Daily Dish

Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:

Romney On Omitting U.S. Troops From RNC Speech: ‘You Talk About Things You Think Are Important’ — Romney giving his speech to the Republican National Convention — In an interview with Fox News this afternoon, Mitt Romney shot back at critics who complained that he didn't mention Afghanistan …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs, The Moderate Voice, US Politics and Shakesville

Twitter Blog:
DNC2012 Night 3: Obama's speech sets records

Discussion: CNN, ABCNEWS, Politico, The Next Web, PopWatch, Queerty, Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, The Political Carnival, TechCrunch, CBS Los Angeles, AllThingsD and Associated Press, more at Mediagazer »

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Romney: Obama's acceptance speech was ‘extraordinarily disappointing’

Discussion: Politico

Jeffb / Nielsen Wire:
Closing Night of Democratic National Convention Draws 35.7 million Viewers

Discussion: Politico, USA Today and TVbytheNumbers

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:

The awful, awful August jobs report — This was not the employment report either American workers or the Obama campaign were hoping for. A huge miss. It shows the U.S. labor market remains in a deep depression, generating few jobs and little if no income growth. As IHS Global Insight puts it:

Jonathan Bernstein / Washington Post:
Disappointing jobs report unlikely to change presidential contest

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Talking Points Memo, The Fix, The Agonist, Guardian, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Hinterland Gazette

Susanna Kim / ABCNEWS:
August Jobs Report: Unemployment Falls to 8.1 Percent

Discussion: Guardian, The Moderate Voice, The Mental Recession and Sweetness & Light

White House.gov Blog:
The Employment Situation in August

Discussion: CBS DC, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Wake up America, The Rightnewz, Washington Examiner and The National Memo

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Obama puts positive spin on jobs report

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Politico and The Right Scoop

Chris Kluwe / Deadspin:

“They Won't Magically Turn You Into A Lustful Cockmonster”: Chris Kluwe Explains Gay Marriage To The Politician Who Is Offended By An NFL Player Supporting It — Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has spoken out in favor of a Maryland ballot initiative that would legalize gay marriage.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Daily Kos, The New Civil Rights Movement, Towleroad News #gay, Box Turtle Bulletin, Guardian, emptywheel, Outsports and ThinkProgress

Yahoo! Sports:
Maryland politician's letter denouncing Brendon Ayanbadejo's support of gay marriage

Discussion: Politico, ABCNEWS and Advocate

David Nelson / KWQC-TV:

Ann Romney: birth control, gay marriage not “what this election is going to be about” — DAVENPORT, Iowa - Ann Romney told KWQC TV6 news Friday that birth control and gay marriage are issues that “distract from what the real voting issue is going to be at this election.”

Discussion: BuzzFeed, CNN, ABCNEWS, Outside the Beltway, Sky Dancing, Blue Crab Boulevard and Balloon Juice

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

Ann Romney Refuses To Answer Questions About Birth Control — In an interview with KWQC-TV6 today, Ann Romney refused to comment on the issues stemming from the ongoing War on Women, declining to address whether she believes women should have access to contraception through their employer-based insurance plans.

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, Daily Kos and Election 2012

KWQC-TV: Ann Romney KWQC Interview Transcript

BuzzFeed:

Romney Endorses Ultraconservative Congressman — Rep. Steve King takes a hard line on issues like abortion and Islam. The Obama campaign seizes opportunity to cast Romney as extreme on social issues. — Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly and Election 2012

Nick Wing / The Huffington Post:
Steve King Nabs Mitt Romney Endorsement, Obama Campaign Pounces

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Political Carnival

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register: Firebrand Steve King tells Siouxland not to doubt Romney's faith in Jesus

Politico:
After lofty rhetoric, stump sniping returns

Discussion: CNN

Philip Roth / Page-Turner:

An Open Letter to Wikipedia — I am Philip Roth. I had reason recently to read for the first time the Wikipedia entry discussing my novel “The Human Stain.” The entry contains a serious misstatement that I would like to ask to have removed. This item entered Wikipedia not from the world …

Discussion: Tablet Magazine, Lawyers, Guns & Money, ArtsBeat, Gizmodo and Daily Dot

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

White House to miss deadline for report on ‘fiscal cliff’ budget cuts — The White House on Friday said it will miss the legal deadline for delivering a report to Congress on the spending cuts from sequestration that are scheduled to take effect in 2013. — Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Hot Air, Politico and Texas on the Potomac

ABCNEWS:
White House Misses Deadline Outlining Defense Cuts

Discussion: The Mental Recession

Jennifer Martinez / The Hill:
White House circulating draft of executive order on cybersecurity

Discussion: Washington Post, The Next Web, The Heritage Foundation and Daily Dot

BuzzFeed:

Obama's Message Breaks Through In Swing State Newspapers — An emphasis on the path forward. Lukewarm reception to his speech from pundits doesn't make the headlines. — Andrew Kaczynski — an hour ago — 22 responses

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Moderate Voice and BuzzFeed

Ryan J. Reilly / Talking Points Memo:

Ohio Secretary Of State Backs Down On Early Voting — After being summoned to court by a federal judge, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Friday backed away from his order that would have banned counties from planning for early voting. — Husted's original order had essentially ignored …

Discussion: msnbc.com

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Ohio Secretary Of State Backs Down, Allows Local Officials To Set Early Voting Hours

Discussion: Election Law Blog, Plunderbund and The Maddow Blog

Wall Street Journal:

The Democrats' Soft Extremism — Obama is out of ideas, and Clinton's speech was unworthy of him. — Barack Obama is deeply overexposed and often boring. He never seems to be saying what he's thinking. His speech Thursday was weirdly anticlimactic. There's too much buildup, the crowd was tired, it all felt flat.

Discussion: Hot Air, Crooks and Liars, No More Mister Nice Blog, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, American Power and INSTAPUTZ

Rush Limbaugh:

It's Uncanny! Obama Copied Jimmy Carter's Convention Acceptance Speech from 1980 — RUSH: We also have done something. It's amazing, by the way, when you hear it, how similar Obama's speech last night was to Jimmy Carter's in 1980. It really is kind of stunning.

Discussion: Politico and Ed Driscoll

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:

Even Fox News Is Fed Up With Romney Failing To Provide Details Of His Tax Plan — The Romney campaign has so far refused to clarify which tax deductions and loopholes it would eliminate in order to make its huge proposed tax cut for the rich revenue neutral.

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Terence P. Jeffrey / CNSNews:

Record 88,921,000 Americans ‘Not in Labor Force’—119,000 Fewer Employed in August Than July — (CNSNews.com) - The number of Americans whom the U.S. Department of Labor counted as “not in the civilian labor force” in August hit a record high of 88,921,000.